Shrieks in the Shadows
by YinYangWriter
Summary: A quick story I came up with for Halloween. Includes messing with Bakura's head. Please review for this is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! story.


**I'm still working on coming up with a good plot for the **_**Young Justice **_**plot, but I thought I should put something out. **_**Yu-Gi-Oh! **_**was the next option and this is what came to me. You don't have to read **_**Laughter in the Dark **_**or **_**Ghostly Giggles**_** to read this story, but I would appreciate it if you did. I do not own **_**Yu-Gi-Oh!**_** or **_**Rita's Italian Ice **_**or any of the **_**Disney**_** references you may encounter. I wrote this at work, so sorry for the shortness.**

**Turn off the lights and start reading. Happy Halloween, everybody!**

* * *

Ryou decided to take a break from everything. He didn't want to deal with dueling, thieving, or anything that had to do with the Millennium Ring. Unfortunately, he couldn't take the Ring off without it coming back to him and then the spirit of the Ring would be mad. It was bad enough he would take over at the worst times, causing Ryou to lose hours, even days, out of his life.

Ryou pulled on his black jacket and left his apartment.

"_Where are we going?"_ demanded the spirit of the Ring.

"Bowling," replied Ryou.

"_Bowling? What for?"_

"To have some sense of normalcy," Ryou replied. "It would be nice to have one night where you don't take over and I do something illegal or immoral."

The spirit of the Ring snorted. _"You're truly pathetic."_

Ryou ignored him and continued to the bowling alley. He played a couple games by himself, ignoring the people looking at him.

"_You have an admirer,"_ the spirit sneered.

"Huh?" Ryou's eyes widened.

"_And she's a pretty thing,"_ the spirit continued with some interest.

Ryou looked around.

"_You fool! Don't look around! You make it look obvious."_

"Then where are you looking?" whispered Ryou.

"Hello."

Ryou turned to a young woman with long black hair, pale features, hazel eyes painted purple, and lips covered in deep purple lipstick. She wore a purple sleeveless tunic dress with a black belt and a black off the shoulder top underneath. Black stockings came above her knees and her boots were purple and came below her knees with three inch wedge heels. One wrist was decorated with gold bangles with a purple silk ribbon tied around them and in her other hand she was holding a plastic cup with _Rita's Italian Ice_ written on the side. The cup held a peach colored liquid.

"H-hi."

"_Smooth."_

The young woman tipped her head to the side in amusement. "What are you doing here all alone?"

"I thought I would go bowling," said Ryou.

The young woman hummed. "Why not hang out with me for a little? I'm bored and could use something to do. I'm not much of a bowler though."

"I'm not sure what. I was going to finish up here and go home," Ryou told her. "I'm not too bad at arcade games if you want to go to the arcade."

The young woman didn't look very interested in that.

"_Oh, this is torture!"_

Ryou felt his consciousness being pulled into the dark as the spirit of the Ring took over. _"Don't hurt her!"_

Bakura smiled at the young woman. "I think I have something else in mind."

Her purple lips twisted into a sensual smile. "What did you have in mind?"

Bakura offered the young woman his arm.

"What a gentleman," she said.

The two of them walked out of the bowling alley, Bakura leading the way.

"What are we doing here?" giggled the young woman once they reached the docks.

"We're going to have a little fun," Bakura grinned.

The young woman stepped in front of him so that she was inches from his face. "Really? I don't know whether to think of this as romantic or spooky."

Bakura gave his best demonic grin. "If I were you, I would think it was a nightmare."

"Oh?" The young woman arched an eyebrow. "And what would you call it?"

"I call this a Shadow Game!"

The light was blocked out as they were pulled into the Shadow Realm. Bakura laughed maniacally, but stopped when he saw an evil grin that could rival his own on the young woman's face.

"You're not afraid?" he asked.

"Hardly," said the young woman. "Mental torment is what I do on a regular basis, Thief King. You'll have to do better than this to scare me."

"Then I'll just have to try harder," said Bakura.

"So, this is a Shadow Game," said the young woman. "What game should we play?"

Bakura smirked. "You seem confident that you'll win."

"I always win," said the young woman. "I don't like to lose."

"In that case, it's your choice, my lady."

"Are you sure, Thief King? You don't know what I play," she said.

"It's not often that I lose either," said Bakura.

"All right. We'll have a little labyrinth game," said the young woman. She slipped off the gold bangles and held them up. "You like gold, Thief King, so we'll play with these. First to find them is the winner. Loser, as always, plays a penalty game."

"One problem," said Bakura. "One of us has to hide the bangles and will know where they are."

"It's only you and me playing," she said. "Ryou is free to move around if he so chooses."

Bakura frowned.

"Oh, Ryou," she called in a singsong voice.

Bakura felt Ryou being pulled apart from him. The white haired hikari was confused.

"Be a dear and hide these for us." The young woman tossed him the bangles. She turned back to Bakura. "It would only make sense for both of us to design different parts of the labyrinth. Any traps will be ineffective against Ryou since he needs free reign of the place to hide the little golden prize."

Bakura nodded.

Both players concentrated on creating a labyrinth. Bakura's half was like a necropolis while the young woman's half looked like something out of a cartoon.

"I always liked Pegasus' Toon World card," she said.

"Freak," muttered Bakura.

"Look who's talkin'," she shot back at him.

"Is it okay if I hide these now, Selena?" Ryou asked.

Bakura whipped around. "How do you know her name?" he demanded.

Ryou held up the bangles. Each one had a letter on it and they all lined up to spell Selena. "I'm guessing that's your name, miss."

Selena walked over to him and slung one arm around his shoulders. "Oh, he's cute and smart." She kissed him on the cheek, leaving behind a plum lipstick print.

Ryou blushed considerably.

"Better get going, sweetie," said Selena. "Bakura here's getting antsy."

Ryou nodded and hurried into the labyrinth.

"We'll give him a few minutes," said Selena.

Bakura and Selena waited for twenty minutes.

"I think he's found a good hiding spot for them," said Selena. "Ready?"

Bakura grinned. "Yes."

"Then let's go!" said Selena. She dashed off into the labyrinth.

Bakura was a little surprised she could run in heels. He always thought girls couldn't run in them.

The entrance to the labyrinth was part of Bakura's half. He had nothing to fear here since he designed all these traps and knew how to avoid and disable them.

"I wonder if Selena will have as much luck," he chuckled darkly. He heard a feminine scream. "Sounds like she already met her demise."

Bakura took his time wandering through the labyrinth, seeing no reason to hurry at all. He reached the end of his half of the labyrinth and was now entering the half Selena created.

Bakura was disgusted with the pink color the walls and floor were. "For someone who has such a dark look, she certainly knows how to turn the gag level up on cute."

A pink teddy bear tottered in front of Bakura.

"Hm? What do you want?" Bakura demanded.

The bear put its paw to its mouth. "You're new."

Bakura frowned.

"New friend! New friend!" The teddy bear started jumping up and down around Bakura's legs.

"Now stop that," Bakura snapped, giving the teddy bear a kick.

"That was mean!" it sobbed.

Bakura snorted and kept on walking. Something tackled him to the floor. More pink teddy bears piled on him and pulled at his hair and clothes. Bakura had to use his shadow magic to get them off him. He turned around and saw hundreds of the pink stuffed animals.

"Get him!" the one Bakura kicked screamed.

Bakura let out a yell and ran down the corridor to get away from the teddy bears.

"What was this woman thinking?" Bakura panted as he continued to run.

The teddy bears came to a split in the labyrinth.

"Which way did he go?" asked one bear.

"I think he went that way," said another.

They let out a battle cry and ran down the right corridor.

Bakura hid in the shadows of the left corridor. He let out a sigh of relief. "I think I'll deal with Pegasus' Toon World and not this crazy woman's version of it."

Bakura hurried to find the bangles before the teddy bears came back after him. The next corridor he arrived in was lined with doors.

"The only way to find out what's in them is to open them."

Bakura opened one door and quickly slammed it again. He leaned against the wall and grimaced. "I will never look at sushi the same way again," he vowed.

He carefully opened the doors he came across now. Some of what was behind them were the traditional traps of false floors and pendulum blades. Others included a chorus of mice singing about a "Cinderelly" and a dance number from flatware.

"You look a little lost," said a voice.

Bakura looked down and saw a black cat at his feet.

"Would you like some help?" the cat asked.

"Why would I need help from you?" Bakura snapped.

"Because you look like you're about to lose what little sanity is up in that pretty little head of yours," replied the cat. "She likes toying with people. She'll keep this up until you break."

"And why would you help me?" asked Bakura. "And what is this? Pink teddy bears? Singing mice? It's enough to make someone mad!"

"And it is especially true for you," said the cat. "Most people would be repulsed by blood and gore. You're not and you don't do cute. She knows this and she's using that little tidbit to her advantage. There's nothing you really care about in this world expect for the Millennium Items and she won't mess with those. She may be daring, but she knows when not to mess with something."

"Obviously she doesn't know not to mess with me," Bakura spat.

"I have never known her to bite of more than she can chew," said the cat. "Now, do you want help or not?"

Bakura thought for a minute. "Yes."

The cat led the way, keeping Bakura away from the pink teddy bears.

"Here we are," the cat said.

They had reached a door that looked like it was made out of candy.

"Well, are you going to open it?" the cat asked Bakura.

"How do I know this isn't some sort of trick?" Bakura asked.

"No trick. Just treats." With that, the cat vanished.

Bakura put his hand on the sticky handle and turned it. He flung the door open and found Selena and Ryou laughing, a bowl of candy between them. The bangles were back on Selena's wrist.

"Bakura, your friend here has a good sense of humor," Selena said. She popped a piece of candy in her mouth. "Good tastes in candy, too."

Bakura was furious. "You! You. . .you. . ."

Selena waited patiently. "Yes, me."

Ryou shrank back in fear. The fury was painted in red all over the spirit's face.

"How did you get here before me?" Bakura spat out when he found his voice again. "I heard you scream. I know one of my traps got you."

"Do you?" Selena asked. "Do you know for sure? I could have just set one off and screamed for effect."

Bakura knew she was right.

Selena took a sip out of her _Rita's Italian Ice _cup. "Now, you have a penalty game to play." She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly.

"There he is!"

Bakura turned around and saw the pink teddy bears were back. "Not them again!" He ran away screaming profanities.

"That should keep him occupied," Selena said.

"He'll be okay, won't he?" Ryou asked.

Selena gave him a confused look. "I thought you didn't care."

"Well, death by pink teddy bears seems a little demeaning," Ryou pointed out.

"It does, doesn't it," said Selena. "I wouldn't worry so much. They won't kill him, but they'll make him think twice before pulling another Shadow Game on some 'poor defenseless girl' again."

Ryou couldn't help but smile.

* * *

When Ryou woke up, he was in his apartment. He thought it was all just a dream. Until he saw the _Rita's Italian Ice_ cup filled with a peach and vanilla custard mix. Ryou started to reach out to spirit of the Ring and thought differently. Bakura could suffer for a change.


End file.
